School Begins

Cassia, Soren, and Tobias started Pre-K and Pre-Pre-K today.  They seemed to have a nice first day.   Soren was very sad to have to wear a uniform and (eek!) tuck his shirt in.  Brishen does not tuck in his shirts, so he sees no reason to tuck in a shirt.  They were excited to see old friends, and I already heard them singing the new songs they have learned.  There was one battle as to whether the "days of the week" song Cassia learned was better than the one I taught Zade today.  Zade kept trying to interrupt Cassia's song with his own.  At that point Cassia would whine that "Zade broke my song."   I should mention that Cassia and Soren no longer take naps in their classes, and Zade and Edison missed their naps due to Roo's doctor appointment.  It was a bit moody around here this afternoon.

Yes, when you stay home, you can choose your own outfit and wear it backwards if that's what you choose.  Zade has his own school desk even though I don't really start school with my kids until kindergarten.  I knew he would feel bad that the other kids are going to school without him, so I want him to see that he has some special things they do not have.  Today I did memory time with him.  We worked singing the continent song.  We recited some nursery rhymes.  He worked on art recognition with Basia and was able to come up with the name for one of the works of art before Basia or I could.  He played the rest of the morning, which is just fine with me.  If he asks to do school, I'll do it with him.  Otherwise there is no hurry to get him started.  I won't start kindergarten with him for another two years.

 Edison hates when his siblings leave.  He wants to watch Mater Tales immediately after the front door closes behind them to soothe his broken heart.  I turned it on once for him last semester, and now he cannot imagine another way to cope when the other kids leave him.  It will be interesting to see how Zade and Edison play with the other kids gone during the day.  Some may say (not me, of course) that these are my two orneriest ones.  Will they play well, or will a world of mischief ensue?

Basia had a great day of school.  I am making her work from 8:30 until noon without any real break.  That's a big change for her, but we really need to focus on school in the mornings because afternoons can get crazy.  We weren't able to finish school in that time, but another hour for reading and about an hour or so in the afternoon may get us close.